I am strong
by D3shadowhunter
Summary: What if Beth had been shot in the shoulder instead of the head? A story where Beth Greene is saved and gets to see her sister again. My version of how season five would have played out if Beth had survived.


"I get it now" Beth said as she slid the scissors out from her cast, not breaking eye contact with Dawn. Confidence flooded through her, she was strong and she wasn't going to allow anyone else to be taken away from her. Not when there was something she could do about it. She tightened her fingers around the scissors and with one quick motion, she swung them up towards Dawn's shoulder. Before she could even process what she had just done, she heard a gunshot and fell to the floor.

Pain radiated through her shoulder and her ears rung from the sound of the gun fire. Before she could even try to move, she heard another gunshot. In her peripheral vision she saw a body fall to the ground. She heard grunting coming from the body and moved her head slightly to see it was Dawn. Footsteps came running towards her and before she knew it, Rick and Daryl were looking down at her.

"She's alive" he heard Rick say.

"Take her and go" she heard one of the officers say.

Daryl picked her up carefully, trying to avoid the bullet wound in her shoulder. She looked over at the officers on the other side of the room as they lowered their guns and went to check on Dawn. From what she could tell, Dawn was still breathing. She leaned her head against Daryl's chest and tried to think of anything but the pain in her shoulder but it wasn't working. Her vision was becoming blurry and it was getting harder and harder for her to keep her eyes open.

"Stay awake. You're going to be okay" Daryl said to her. She could see tears escaping his eyes. She wanted to reassure him that she was okay but she didn't have the energy to speak.

They walked out the doors and she felt the sun hit her face, which she would have enjoyed more if she wasn't in so much pain. Suddenly she heard the sound of loud crying and knew it was Maggie.

"Maggie" she said in a soft voice that was barely a whisper. She wanted to jump out of Daryl's arms and to her sister but knew she couldn't. Daryl nodded and walked her over to her sister. Maggie looked down at her with tears running down her face.

"I'm okay" Beth said, trying to sound as strong and confident as she could but knowing she failed miserably. The last thing she remembered seeing was her sister's face before everything went dark and she passed out.

She woke to the sound of soft singing. She opened her eyes and saw her sister's face looking down at her. Her head was rested on Maggie's lap and she looked over at her shoulder and saw it was bandaged up. Maggie stopped singing and smiled down at her.

"Don't stop singing" Beth said, managing a small smile. Maggie pulled her close and hugged her tightly. She let out a small sound of discomfort and Maggie let go quickly.

"Sorry" Maggie said, not taking her eyes off of Beth. Beth managed to sit up and looked around to see the others sleeping around them.

"How long was I out?" she asked.

"A few hours. We got the bullet out and bandaged your shoulder up the best we could" Maggie said, looking over at her sister. Beth nodded.

"I thought you were dead" Maggie said, tears forming in her eyes.

"Not yet" she said, moving closer to her sister and putting her head on Maggie's shoulder. Maggie leaned her head on Beth's head and they sat like that for a few minutes in silence. Beth tried to stay hopeful these days but honestly she hadn't thought she would ever see her sister again. It felt good to sit here in her arms. She had already lost her father and thought she had lost the only family she had left.

"When did you become so strong?" Maggie asked.

Beth shrugged, "I've always been strong" she replied. She hadn't thought it before but when she said it out loud she knew it was true. One didn't just grow strong overnight. She had gone most of her life being told by others and herself that she wasn't strong. And she had believed it. But the one good thing about the end of the world was that it allowed her to be what she always was. She could say the experiences she had been through were what made her strong but in reality they just pulled that part of herself to the surface.

They sat in silence until Beth slowly started to sing 'The Parting Glass'. Maggie joined her and together the two girls sung the song their father had once requested what felt like forever ago.


End file.
